History of the Hookah in Lebanon

Hookah migrated from Turkey to Lebanon and Syria where it got the name “argile”. It then spread to Egypt and Morocco. There, it took on the name shisha. It is also known as the hubble bubble in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

From there, the hookah made its way to southeast Asia and Europe.

Most hookah smoking nations serve Naklia shisha ( or sheesha ). This is a combination of foreign tobaccos, honey molasses and dried fruit. The smoke is filtered through ice cold water to make the smoke cool and soothing. Older generations smoked hashish and opium which assisted in creating a negative stigma for the hookahs used today.

My Buddy Amir on his Argile